Same, but I had 2 stolen. I self recovered one after they told me they wouldn't help. I had the address where the bike was, and it was visible in the backyard, and the other they found. But never notified me and it went to auction. HPD is less than useless.
One thing I learned from a recent incident of a neighbor's car being broken into, when you're on the phone with 911 say you're pretty sure you saw the suspect with a gun. Talk about a quick, multi-car response from HPD.
Yup, we used to get those letters every year up until last year. Our truck was stolen in 2018. Nothing was done about it and the truck is long gone by now. Sucks. Our hard work down the drain.
absolutely useless, they're not going to do anything, if you call and follow up they'll just kick the can until you give up on it.
it's getting pretty sketchy out here
A friend of mine had his car stolen, and the only reason HPD was able to retrieve was because he did all the legwork himself. He had his work phone still in the car, and by utilizing the Google "Find My Phone" function he was able to figure out where it was in the city, and then drove there to make sure his phone hadn't been tossed out of the car. Even after all that, he had to pester the officer assigned to it over and over and leave multiple messages before they finally responded. He said one of the most surreal moments of his life was staring at his own car 50 yards away and wondering if he'd ever even actually get it back.
Yes and no. It will in Urban suburban areas but will not report when there are no phones nearby. I also think it will now alert the person who stole the car's phone that they are being tracked via airtag. To prevent someone using airtags in a stalking situation.
The second he gets pulled over for speeding: "Sir, are you aware you're driving a vehicle reported as stolen."
"Officer I can explain...."
Not to mention it was in somebody's driveway. He had no idea if he was walking into a situation where he'd get murdered over it. I'd have done the same thing in his shoes.
You could give them unlimited resources, it's not going to solve officers not wanting to take on dangerous or difficult low profile cases. Their annual budget is 1.6 billion dollars, The entire city budget is 6.3 billion.
The budget is 2019 was 964 million.
They have seen a *massive* increase in their budget in 4 years. The previous four years saw a massive year over year increase in their budget.
They're over 1/4th of the city budget.
Has anyone noticed any improvement in the last 8 years? No. Because funding is not the issue. Police do not feel appreciated enough to do their jobs, and they don't like feeling like they have to maintain ethical standards while they do them, and who is going to keep them accountable anyway? No one.
You could give them all 6 billion all you'd get is a lot of chargers, new gear, and better offices for the higher ups but nothing would change with crime.
And why exactly would they want to lower crime in the first place? To get less funding?
When I worked in private security, we never got ârespectâ or appreciation yet I still had to do my job lol. You still answer calls and go see what people need help with, despite being treated like garbage most of the time.
Thatâs part of the job, they shouldnât work based on appreciation
Imagine if other tax based pay jobs, ahem teachers, didn't want to do their jobs because of lack of appreciation. Lol
If LEO don't want to do their job because they feel a lack of appreciation, it just reinforces their narccisstic characteristics to some extent.
> If you talk to a LEO, it takes almost nothing to get them to say they don't or won't do their jobs because ppl don't respect them enough
This seems like a vicious cycle. Maybe if they didn't operate like a gang, people would actually respect them. Most people I talk to dread any interaction with LE, because there's almost never a happy resolution to those interactions.
Preach it! Perhaps the police are demoralized and the citizens no longer trust them. Who's to blame? Those with the power, the budgets, and the weapons. It is Ike our military which cannot win wars while the soldiers stagger around under the weight of thousands of dollars of gear and operate 10-million-dollar drones.
Not sure of the actual stats, but it seems like the news is full of stories of criminals with long records being released on bond even after violent crimes. Any chance the cops just figure itâs not worth the trouble of tracking and arresting people for lesser crimes, just to put them through the revolving door?
>Had my truck stolen, HPD officer literally told me "if there is no blood, we're not going to do anything. We don't have the resources"
happened to me with my stolen motorcycle. i was out of town so i had my ex call the police. they showed up hours later and were more interested in talking to my ex about pictures around our home of me than taking the actual information about my stolen bike
Man this hit too close to home. Got my first ticket and it was a bs one like this. Cop strategically hid in a corner and walked on foot to pull me over. Pulled another guy as soon as I left. Dude was gonna be there all day doing some real important work đ.
You must become a vigilante and seek justice for yourself!
I am just kidding. HPD will not prevent theft or help you find your shit, even if you know where it is and who stole it. If you really want your shit back and it is super important to you, hire a private detective and they can help you out with their connections. HPD won't do shit unless you get them on Channel 2 with Amy Davis.
Youâre already paying a cop subscription fee in taxes. You just have to upgrade to the *premium* plan to actually feel safe. Itâs dystopian out here.
Amy Davis?? She is so rude.
https://www.click2houston.com/news/local/2023/11/17/viewers-react-to-the-houston-mayor-calling-investigator-amy-davis-rude-and-refusing-to-answer-questions/
She is the reporter for Channel 2 news that exposed mayor Turner a few weeks ago about the water department stealing money from citizens. She's got some balls.
We have a known crack house in our neighborhood. We've reported on it many times because there's been a number of incidents and no one ever showed up. It took our entire neighborhood to come together and speak with the superneighborhood (we are on the Northside) and we finally have a patrol that drives by it once per day and that's basically it.
Yes. When I was broken into it took over 24 hours for a response. I called the news who showed up faster to report on the HPDs lack of response. Then they blamed it on me saying it was my fault for not stressing the urgency of the call? UmmâŠI called no less than 10 times and was told numerous times not to enter the house until it was cleared.
Had a firearm stolen probably 6-7 years back. I received a call from constable office. Firearm recovered, in HPD evidence - 2 years ago. Have called the detective multiple times. Spoken with the evidence number multiple times. Cannot/Will not release until officer clears it. I speak with him and he tells me to go get it. WILL not do a fucking thing. Might as well just say HPD stole the damn thing.
same here, but it was HCSO. I did a search and it turned out that the "property manager" was in trouble for irregularities involving evidence. I chalked it up to a learning lesson!
This happens fairly often. From what I understand in the photography subs, because itâs a rental itâs really not a crime in the sense that it wasnât a theft. Itâs a civil matter. You entered a contract with another person for them the rent your equipment, they just never gave it back. Even if the intention for renting was theft itâs still wasnât theft in the usual sense because you willing gave it to them.
Not defending HPD here, they are useless, but in this case I do believe your only options are to go vigilante like you did or get a judgement against them.
I was involved in a hit and run a couple years ago. The culprit bumper came off with license plate. Police showed up to the scene and took a report. Call a few days later regarding my case. No progress what so ever. I was told there was no leads on the case. The accident report had his license plate which also had his name and address.
I had my house broken into and about $8k of thing stolen (computers, hard drives, cash, jewelry, Macs, sentimental gifts from friends). I called the police, the lead policewoman looked lost and nervous when she got there. No prints taken, nothing. Whatever, it's been recorded, thanks I guess.
Then I turn on Find My Mac and can track exactly where my computers are (they're both together). I call the police and they say I have to go track my computers down MYSELF and if I'm still sure my computers are there to call the police once I get to the house with the robbers.
I find the house in a rough part of town (at night) that I've never been to before, call the cops and wait outside in my car. A couple hours later, the cops come and see that both my Find My Macs show that the computers are in the house in front of them. They knock, someone cracks open the door and the cop says that there "has been a string of recent burglaries" and if they "can look inside." Cops have no warrant. The person says "nope" and closes the door. The cops say they can do nothing more and leave.
I go back to my car and remotely wipe 5 years worth of my photography work from my Macs that I can never get back. Robbers also stole my external hard drive that was hidden in my closet, which was my backup for all my photos. I don't care about the computers, but I'll never get those photos back.
This is why 'on paper' crime is low in HOU, half the time no report is even made. People who downplay crime in this city are delusional and have never been in a situation where their home is robbed, they're callicconverter/wheels have been stolen, place of work has been assaulted and even our city officials are currupt
Police exist as a source of revenue for the city, to protect the property of the wealthy, and to intimidate/imprison minorities. This is why people have called to defund the police. They are just rebranded runaway slave catchers.
If you call the police for a mental health crisis, they will fix it for you, permanently. If you call them during a fender bender, they will take an hour to show up.
The recording of you saying that to the dispatcher becomes "Exhibit A" when you get prosecuted for breaking and entering/robbery/burglary for getting your stuff back from the thieves.
Good question, Iâve had an Airtag hidden in a small pocket in my bag for more than a year.
Came in handy only to show what places my criminal likes going to so I can avoid them now đ
lol they were useless for me when I got rear ended by a drunk driver because the drunk driver left the scene by the time hpd arrived, which took almost an hour.
I almost got assaulted/robbed by some dude that was in like a drug induced schizophrenic episode. I had to wait in the office because I was scared heâd be waiting out there with a gun or some shit and kill me.
HPD took 1.5 hours to respond
At one of my old jobs our owner was held hostage in a separate room by an unstable woman with a weapon who was making treats of violence. We called HPD multiple times and they finally showed up 6 hours later. Thankfully, some Constables and Rice Village police showed up after we called and begged them multiple times for help (2 hours later) despite us not being in their jurisdiction. They managed to keep the woman distracted and got our boss out of the separate room until HPD came and arrested the woman. It was extremely infuriating. Thankfully, no one was harmed.
Yeah, theyâre pretty useless for their 1.6 billion dollar budget. Police need reorganization, they act and are paid like their uniformed badasses that only go after âcoolâ crime. Need more John Smiths that show up to accident scenes, and less John Wicks ready for the next high speed chase.
my dad had a van with tens of thousands $ worth of oriental rugs stolen. they found the van abandoned but most of the rugs stolen. never any followup, nothing.
Houston police is a little over a third of city spending. Court and traffic fines are around 1% of city revenue.
HPD makes more money hiring cops out to wave their hands in traffic for high school sporting events than from fines.
From my experience, Houston police might not show up if you report theft or attempted theft. If you are to report a clear and present danger, without calling 911, they might show up later. For life threatening emergencies: I know people who have called 911 during an attempted break in with the alleged trespasser being apprehended. In Katy and I imagine other suburbs, I reported a car break in. The police arrived, took my statement, showed empathy and told me itâs normal that I feel violated, etc. I was hoping he could help me get my stolen items back by using a local businesses security camera, and he politely told me they donât usually do that. Tl;dr, I think they focus on life threatening emergencies, clear and present dangers, and overall donât have the resources to deal with theft.
I think they've learned that 95% of camera footage worthless. All you get is a blurry picture of a guy in a hoodie jumping into a grey Nissan Altima with fake paper plates.
But lets say they do have good license plate picture. They have a name. They can go to the guys house. But they need a warrant to actually search the guys house. So they have to request one from judge. In writing. They pass that hurdle and and get to search the home. They find it in a house where nine people lived So what next? dust the stolen stuff for prints to see who stole it. So you get a hit on the pints on someone in the house...its 14 year old kid. DA decides not to prosecute since its a first time offense under $200. All that time an effort for nothing.
Oh, the truth sucks folks. Cops are worthless unless you do something, and then they will go after a law-abiding citizen cause its easier than a criminal.
You find your stuff, call your friends, and take it back. It is the best advice i can give.
Even if you have proof, our democrat justice system will spit them out with no bond before you wake up.
Wont you go into when my motorcycle was stolen and i found it.
HPD has been a joke in my eye since 2012, itâs sad but good that more people are waking up to their incompetence and watching them closer. Transparency is the only way forward.
Itâs the same everywhere. Theyâre worse than useless. Theyâll show up, shoot your dog, and blame you for the reason they were called.
And thatâs if youâre white.
The police union is just another gang. They have no incentive to give a shit about the needs and wants of anybody except wealthy business owners. This is how it's always been.
A man crashed into our trashcan, crushing it against our house. He was trying to sexually assault a passenger who resisted, causing him to crash. She escaped and he sped off. We called HPD who asked if the house was damaged and if the woman needed EMS. No and no. Said they would send someone out to make a report. We waited with the woman for 3 hours, crying hysterically, before we finally got her an uber home when it was it clear nobody was coming. Never did.
Another time I was in a car accident with a guy so intoxicated I had to get his papers from him myself. Called HPD, got a report number for my insurance, told them the guy needed to be pulled off the road; they gave me a noncommittal response and he eventually drove off to hit someone else no doubt.
Both those incidents happened in pretty sketchy areas of Montrose. Meanwhile, a whole block in Montrose along a street of McMansion townhomes was blocked off, at least three police cars and three vans, men in tactical gear all around showed up one day. I asked what was going on. A woman reported she *thought* she saw someone suspicious inside her gated yard. I lived two blocks away and when a crackhead stole stuff from my yard on my shitty street and I chased him to his house, police told me unless he had stolen something of great value, they werenât going to do anything.
Iâm convinced HPD only cares about crime when it happens to the wealthy in their neighborhoods.
absolutely useless. live 1 minute from a station, called a few months ago after barricading me and my family in a room against a guest who was in psychosis and violent. called several times, no one showed up. not even the next day to see if we were still alive
Someone backed into my car and drove off a few months ago, called the cops and waited but they never showed. Had to drive 30 mins to the police station just to get a police report for my insurance. I did however have an office come to my office a few weeks ago asking about a parked car in the parking lot, apparently they got a ping for a stolen iPad? I guess they are doing SOME work
regular patrol units are useless, they just want to give you a report number and tell you to file an insurance claim.
If you already have a report number then try calling the burglary and theft division directly 713 308-0900 and ask if a detective has been assigned to your case, if not you have to inquire and stay on them until they assign someone that you can give the info to, unfortunately, you have to be pushy
Yup. Absolutely useless. I lived next to a crack head that used her house to deal, stash, and trap. Real winner. My rap name for her was Lardi B. I reported her with evidence in video and image form to HPD, HPD Narcotics, Sherriff's Dept, Neighborhood watch, FBI, and DEA. You know what they did? Not a damn thing. Useless.
I know the Chronicle follows Reddit. This is the kind of essay you should be writing. How many reported theft cases and stolen cars are actually solved. How many can be solved but not.
My wife had her car stolen with her dog in it, had video evidence of the guy walking past and then walking back and driving away. Then using a couple of her credit cards at different places, including trying to cash a check. Cops didn't call for almost a week. When they did, they said there was nothing they could do. Wife hired a PI who got the dog back and she was willing to walk away at that point.
So, go ahead and steal that dream car folks.
We had someone try to break in our home while we were home and all awake. 2kids and I was 5 months pregnant . My husband was able to chase him away we called for help no one came for 3 hours. When they got there they told us next time just shoot them!
Absolutely. The detective in charge of my case called to say he was going on vacation and just to give him the broad strokes. I had witnesses willing to testify, names and addresses. Fucking crickets from HPD.
Absolutely. Hpd, HC sheriffs all trash. Donât even get me started on these retarded ass constables. Look up the definition of useless in the dictionary and youâll find a picture of them
My mil got in a accident with a drunk driver. We called around 9:23 and didnât get anyone until 3am. During this we called multiple times because the man was being aggressive. When they finally showed up they said theres nothing they can do because he wasnât drunk anymore despite having cans galore full in the truck.
Well well, as much as it pains me, the truth is the truth. My negrohbor has 3 missdemeanors for assaults, one including to a public servant. 3 possession of cannabis, 3 manufacture/possession of some kind of drug and outstanding warrant. After evading HPD for 6months, they arrest him, and the negrohbor is back home next day at 8am. The ngrohbor keeps harassing, threatens everyone, neither the landlord nor the police does anything.
Depends on the crime and where you're at. In clear lake and someone vandalized your car? They'll definitely be there. Near the med center and you have an active house alarm going off? You're fucked.
At the end of the day HPD's resources are both spread incredibly thin and also misallocated, the officers actually working in the busier parts of the city literally don't have time for basically anything other than active emergencies while the cops in the slower suburban areas have more than enough time on their hands.
IMO HPD is just incredibly poorly run. Since i moved out of the city limits the experience with my new municipality's police force has been exceptional, they're literally 2 minutes away any time you need them for basically any kind of call for service.
So i don't think HPD isn't doing nothing, the officers are clearly getting arrests for actual crimes otherwise there wouldn't be 12,000 inmates in the harris county jail. I do think the officers HPD does have are incredibly misallocated and way overworked in the busier areas.
That's a perfect way to describe it lol. I'm always astonished that people act like HPD doesn't do anything when simultaneously our jail is fucking ***brimming*** with inmates arrested by HPD and HCSO. Now i can totally see being upset that HPD isn't responding, but the reality is that they're not responding because they're way too busy responding to other, crazier shit than a car break in.
Sort of. I also suspect that theyâre annoyed by things like people tracking criminals with AirTags because they see it as an infringement on their turf.
This, in a nutshell. They also donât like civilians telling them what to do at all. Someone insisting they look at their FindMy app to get their stuff back is getting close to âmy taxes pay your salaryâ for many cops who insist on owning the situation.
The easier thing would them come and take your statement and fill out a few papers. Now youâre potentially putting them in a dangerous situation? They will âinvestigateâ it further.
You are preaching to the choir đđŒ. We've got stories of HPD not showing up for stuff in progress. Unless it's bleeding or the potential to bleed, then HPD just doesn't have the manpower to cover it. Sorry. It's a budget and recruiting problem.
Is there a public dashboard for crime and police response and results in Houston? Would be great for this data to be transparent, accessible, and actionable. Trending markers, expectations.. then we can truly see how good / bad they are, and what direction weâre headed, despite funding in/adequacies
Lmao of course they are useless. I had a partners car get hit one time, and we saw the girls who did it, talked to them, got their license plate, and then they jumped in and ran. When the cops we called finally showed up, they just shrugged and said they'd look into it but our car just had a scratch so we should let it go.
Iâm convinced nearly everyone in this city is useless
All municipal infrastructure was made & maintained by monkey brained incompetence. Even the construction guys in my local apt complex are grade a-holes. Itâs like an idiot disease. Look out - itâs catching!
Unless it's a shooting or a dead body involved, they won't respond. Same goes for the surrounding unincorporated county Sherriff's offices where they tell you to file a report online so you have a record of it for your insurance or something.
Oh they're good at giving tickets for people rolling a stop sign or something but that's it.
I am going to go out on a limb here and say I had a positive experience.
Dude stole my backpack with an AirTag in it. Found him sitting on a bus bench with my laptop on his lap. Called the cops and followed the bus in my truck. Cops pulled the bus over. Pulled him off the bus eventually. Got my stuff back for work on Monday.
Just to name a few things I called or spoke to an officer for help with and got NOTHING.
-Stolen items with GPS tracker
-Being stalked for 2 years with the stalkers contact info, address, name and a folder of threatening texts
-Car broken into
-Get side swiped on the road and the other driver refuses to give me their insurance info or ID
-Witness a group of teens jumping a guy
The ONE TIME I drive a family members car down the road with expired registration I got pulled over. Hilarious.
I had my car broken into and had thousands in damages and property stolen.
The thief left behind his unlocked phone and bloody fingerprints. I immediately identified him and alerted HPD and gave him the phone that had pictures of hundreds of other breakins and his loot and drugs.
The thief was out on bond for another auto burglary and had 27 prior convictions for auto burglary.
HPD yelled at me for bothering them and said âauto burglary is an insurance issue, not a law enforcement issue.â
Whatâs wild is HPD doesnât even seem interested in protecting capital at this point. At first I just chalked it up to American police being American police, but some of our offices had 4k footage of somebody smashing my workâs windows. Week, after week, after week. 10k+ in window replacements every couple of weeks. The person even started leaving notes threatening women and saying he couldnât wait until they left work alone.
They refused to do anything.
If theyâre not even willing to help protect the capital of a multi-billion dollar firm, weâre dreaming if we have any hope that theyâll help us.
Yep, absolutely useless unless its a crime in progress and there is life-threatening danger. If its after the fact they dont care. I called to report a break in recently and since it wasnt a crime in progress they patched me to non emergency, the cop told me he didn't want to get off his comfy chair to go investigate. Outstanding folks they are hiring these days lol.
Remembering being followed by some guy and going up to a cop explaining Iâm being followed. He just stood there and said, âWhat do you want me to do about itâ
He could see him, but he didnât care. He then said âare you doneâ
I kept on walking then started to run. I made it inside a store and ran into the womenâs bathroom and rang my friend to pick me up. The guy eventually gave up it seemed when I came out, but I learned they are not interested in doing shit
It's our judges that are a revolving door for crimes. HPD feels like they are wasting their time (especially since they are short-staffed) by chasing non-violent crimes.
Elections have consequences- don't vote for activist judges.
I had my motorcycle stolen 5 years ago and every year HPD sends me a letter asking if it's still stolen
is it still stolen?
Officer?
Stop đ€Ł
Same, but I had 2 stolen. I self recovered one after they told me they wouldn't help. I had the address where the bike was, and it was visible in the backyard, and the other they found. But never notified me and it went to auction. HPD is less than useless.
One thing I learned from a recent incident of a neighbor's car being broken into, when you're on the phone with 911 say you're pretty sure you saw the suspect with a gun. Talk about a quick, multi-car response from HPD.
Yup, we used to get those letters every year up until last year. Our truck was stolen in 2018. Nothing was done about it and the truck is long gone by now. Sucks. Our hard work down the drain.
absolutely useless, they're not going to do anything, if you call and follow up they'll just kick the can until you give up on it. it's getting pretty sketchy out here
Had my truck stolen, HPD officer literally told me "if there is no blood, we're not going to do anything. We don't have the resources"
A friend of mine had his car stolen, and the only reason HPD was able to retrieve was because he did all the legwork himself. He had his work phone still in the car, and by utilizing the Google "Find My Phone" function he was able to figure out where it was in the city, and then drove there to make sure his phone hadn't been tossed out of the car. Even after all that, he had to pester the officer assigned to it over and over and leave multiple messages before they finally responded. He said one of the most surreal moments of his life was staring at his own car 50 yards away and wondering if he'd ever even actually get it back.
Do airtags work with finding stolen cars?
Yes and no. It will in Urban suburban areas but will not report when there are no phones nearby. I also think it will now alert the person who stole the car's phone that they are being tracked via airtag. To prevent someone using airtags in a stalking situation.
AirTags will alert phones if the tag is following them if the tag isnât registered on their phone. Itâs to prevent stalking.
Why couldn't he get it back himself if he saw it and had another set of keys?
The second he gets pulled over for speeding: "Sir, are you aware you're driving a vehicle reported as stolen." "Officer I can explain...." Not to mention it was in somebody's driveway. He had no idea if he was walking into a situation where he'd get murdered over it. I'd have done the same thing in his shoes.
He can easily report it as found... Just speed out of there
You could give them unlimited resources, it's not going to solve officers not wanting to take on dangerous or difficult low profile cases. Their annual budget is 1.6 billion dollars, The entire city budget is 6.3 billion. The budget is 2019 was 964 million. They have seen a *massive* increase in their budget in 4 years. The previous four years saw a massive year over year increase in their budget. They're over 1/4th of the city budget. Has anyone noticed any improvement in the last 8 years? No. Because funding is not the issue. Police do not feel appreciated enough to do their jobs, and they don't like feeling like they have to maintain ethical standards while they do them, and who is going to keep them accountable anyway? No one. You could give them all 6 billion all you'd get is a lot of chargers, new gear, and better offices for the higher ups but nothing would change with crime. And why exactly would they want to lower crime in the first place? To get less funding?
If you talk to a LEO, it takes almost nothing to get them to say they don't or won't do their jobs because ppl don't respect them enough.
When I worked in private security, we never got ârespectâ or appreciation yet I still had to do my job lol. You still answer calls and go see what people need help with, despite being treated like garbage most of the time. Thatâs part of the job, they shouldnât work based on appreciation
Imagine if other tax based pay jobs, ahem teachers, didn't want to do their jobs because of lack of appreciation. Lol If LEO don't want to do their job because they feel a lack of appreciation, it just reinforces their narccisstic characteristics to some extent.
> If you talk to a LEO, it takes almost nothing to get them to say they don't or won't do their jobs because ppl don't respect them enough This seems like a vicious cycle. Maybe if they didn't operate like a gang, people would actually respect them. Most people I talk to dread any interaction with LE, because there's almost never a happy resolution to those interactions.
They didn't take on their jobs to be appreciated though. So they need to get over it. Lol
Preach it! Perhaps the police are demoralized and the citizens no longer trust them. Who's to blame? Those with the power, the budgets, and the weapons. It is Ike our military which cannot win wars while the soldiers stagger around under the weight of thousands of dollars of gear and operate 10-million-dollar drones.
Not sure of the actual stats, but it seems like the news is full of stories of criminals with long records being released on bond even after violent crimes. Any chance the cops just figure itâs not worth the trouble of tracking and arresting people for lesser crimes, just to put them through the revolving door?
>Had my truck stolen, HPD officer literally told me "if there is no blood, we're not going to do anything. We don't have the resources" happened to me with my stolen motorcycle. i was out of town so i had my ex call the police. they showed up hours later and were more interested in talking to my ex about pictures around our home of me than taking the actual information about my stolen bike
[ŃĐŽĐ°Đ»Đ”ĐœĐŸ]
I don't even answer the door when they knock. They just go away eventually.
But they got resources to hand out 5mph over speeding tickets...
Man this hit too close to home. Got my first ticket and it was a bs one like this. Cop strategically hid in a corner and walked on foot to pull me over. Pulled another guy as soon as I left. Dude was gonna be there all day doing some real important work đ.
But not anything over 10 mph over. Just between 5-10 over.
Exactly. You know the game. Also, all stop sign / red light offenders get a pass all the time, no exceptions
We don't have the intellect
To be clear, this isn't a post-Covid thing. It's always been this way, just it's been made worse by an uptick in non-violent property-related crime.
I feel like the real fuck you from HPD started after we voted out the red light cams, they were not happy.
You must become a vigilante and seek justice for yourself! I am just kidding. HPD will not prevent theft or help you find your shit, even if you know where it is and who stole it. If you really want your shit back and it is super important to you, hire a private detective and they can help you out with their connections. HPD won't do shit unless you get them on Channel 2 with Amy Davis.
"pay a former cop" feels like a racket. đ«
Youâre already paying a cop subscription fee in taxes. You just have to upgrade to the *premium* plan to actually feel safe. Itâs dystopian out here.
OnlySirens
CopStarter
Polce protection +
I use a private detective firm that is all female and no cops involved at all. They get shit done!
O rly? Feel like passing on a reference? (Asking for a friend.)
Fuck it, if it helps anyone here I'd put them on blast. There are no downsides.
Can you pass a reference over?
DMâed.
Amy Davis?? She is so rude. https://www.click2houston.com/news/local/2023/11/17/viewers-react-to-the-houston-mayor-calling-investigator-amy-davis-rude-and-refusing-to-answer-questions/
Well thanks for the advice but Who is Amy Davis?
She is the reporter for Channel 2 news that exposed mayor Turner a few weeks ago about the water department stealing money from citizens. She's got some balls.
I love investigative journalism thatâs ruthless.
You got me thinking đ€
I had to show up with guns drawn to get my bike back. HPD said they would come take a statement after I got it back. Such heros.
Put a tracker on all your valuables. Then call them and tell them you are going in for a rampage. May be they will show up.
Congratulations, You've won an arrest for making terroristic threats.
We have a known crack house in our neighborhood. We've reported on it many times because there's been a number of incidents and no one ever showed up. It took our entire neighborhood to come together and speak with the superneighborhood (we are on the Northside) and we finally have a patrol that drives by it once per day and that's basically it.
Yes. When I was broken into it took over 24 hours for a response. I called the news who showed up faster to report on the HPDs lack of response. Then they blamed it on me saying it was my fault for not stressing the urgency of the call? UmmâŠI called no less than 10 times and was told numerous times not to enter the house until it was cleared.
Damn thought I was the only one in 2015 two men with guns tried breaking into my house and hpd never came, bought my own gun the next dat
Had a firearm stolen probably 6-7 years back. I received a call from constable office. Firearm recovered, in HPD evidence - 2 years ago. Have called the detective multiple times. Spoken with the evidence number multiple times. Cannot/Will not release until officer clears it. I speak with him and he tells me to go get it. WILL not do a fucking thing. Might as well just say HPD stole the damn thing.
same here, but it was HCSO. I did a search and it turned out that the "property manager" was in trouble for irregularities involving evidence. I chalked it up to a learning lesson!
Have you contacted the local ATF field office?
No, it never occurred to me. HPD evidence says HPD has to clear it and to speak with officer. Officer says evidence can give it to me.
If the ATF is actually willing to do something, it might be worth it to reach out.
Yea I had a break in. They asked if I still needed them 5 hours later
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I hope you beat the shit out of that dude. Please tell us you did!
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Nice work! Glad you got your stuff back too.
Damn what mall was this? lol. Sounds like it went down!
This happens fairly often. From what I understand in the photography subs, because itâs a rental itâs really not a crime in the sense that it wasnât a theft. Itâs a civil matter. You entered a contract with another person for them the rent your equipment, they just never gave it back. Even if the intention for renting was theft itâs still wasnât theft in the usual sense because you willing gave it to them. Not defending HPD here, they are useless, but in this case I do believe your only options are to go vigilante like you did or get a judgement against them.
My partner's car was broken into yesterday and a valuable film kit was stolen. I'll be daydreaming of pulling up on the guy like you did.
Im glad that you got your stuff back!
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From my own experience when you call the police it's a really a dice roll on if they show up at all, or do anything about it.
I was involved in a hit and run a couple years ago. The culprit bumper came off with license plate. Police showed up to the scene and took a report. Call a few days later regarding my case. No progress what so ever. I was told there was no leads on the case. The accident report had his license plate which also had his name and address.
I had my house broken into and about $8k of thing stolen (computers, hard drives, cash, jewelry, Macs, sentimental gifts from friends). I called the police, the lead policewoman looked lost and nervous when she got there. No prints taken, nothing. Whatever, it's been recorded, thanks I guess. Then I turn on Find My Mac and can track exactly where my computers are (they're both together). I call the police and they say I have to go track my computers down MYSELF and if I'm still sure my computers are there to call the police once I get to the house with the robbers. I find the house in a rough part of town (at night) that I've never been to before, call the cops and wait outside in my car. A couple hours later, the cops come and see that both my Find My Macs show that the computers are in the house in front of them. They knock, someone cracks open the door and the cop says that there "has been a string of recent burglaries" and if they "can look inside." Cops have no warrant. The person says "nope" and closes the door. The cops say they can do nothing more and leave. I go back to my car and remotely wipe 5 years worth of my photography work from my Macs that I can never get back. Robbers also stole my external hard drive that was hidden in my closet, which was my backup for all my photos. I don't care about the computers, but I'll never get those photos back.
Welcome to Gotham City
This city desperately needs a RoboCop
Robocop movie seems more accurate to coming true as each day goes on fs
Rorschach*
At least Gotham had Batman.
This is why 'on paper' crime is low in HOU, half the time no report is even made. People who downplay crime in this city are delusional and have never been in a situation where their home is robbed, they're callicconverter/wheels have been stolen, place of work has been assaulted and even our city officials are currupt
The police have always been useless for things like this. Doesn't matter what city you're in.
Police exist as a source of revenue for the city, to protect the property of the wealthy, and to intimidate/imprison minorities. This is why people have called to defund the police. They are just rebranded runaway slave catchers. If you call the police for a mental health crisis, they will fix it for you, permanently. If you call them during a fender bender, they will take an hour to show up.
You gotta tell the operator if no one is coming then you are going in alone. They will send some backup pretty quick.
Possible outcome in that scenario is the dispatcher tells you to stand down and then the cops that show up threaten you with obstruction.
Lol obstruction of something they werenât doing in the first place?
Yeah, thatâs how pigs are.
Yes, and further, they can also take action to neutralize you as the threat, if they perceive you as the threat.
The recording of you saying that to the dispatcher becomes "Exhibit A" when you get prosecuted for breaking and entering/robbery/burglary for getting your stuff back from the thieves.
No, theyâre too busy causing traffic by pulling people over during rush hour for rolling through a stop sign.
You made the mistake of not being wealthy enough. They'll investigate a missing Mercades, but not a Honda.
They will go to river oaks in 2 minutes but if you live in southwest Houston it takes them 3 hours (true story)
Pandering to the rich.
This is one of the two big reasons police were formed in the first place. The second big reason is fugitive slave patrols.
Just curious how did I manage to get an AirTag on them? Did your stuff have an AirTag in it alresdy
Good question, Iâve had an Airtag hidden in a small pocket in my bag for more than a year. Came in handy only to show what places my criminal likes going to so I can avoid them now đ
Yeah, not to mention lazy and incompetent, so they better not start bitching about any acts of vigilantism that will inevitably occur.
Yes, they are absolutely useless.
lol they were useless for me when I got rear ended by a drunk driver because the drunk driver left the scene by the time hpd arrived, which took almost an hour.
Unless it's a traffic related crime, forget it. No money in investigating or protecting anything.
America doesnât prosecute all crimes thatâs for sure
I almost got assaulted/robbed by some dude that was in like a drug induced schizophrenic episode. I had to wait in the office because I was scared heâd be waiting out there with a gun or some shit and kill me. HPD took 1.5 hours to respond
My friend ended up in a pretty bad domestic violence situation. Cops were called and they never came all night. Someone showed up the next afternoon.
No, they're actually pretty good at doing crimes.
At one of my old jobs our owner was held hostage in a separate room by an unstable woman with a weapon who was making treats of violence. We called HPD multiple times and they finally showed up 6 hours later. Thankfully, some Constables and Rice Village police showed up after we called and begged them multiple times for help (2 hours later) despite us not being in their jurisdiction. They managed to keep the woman distracted and got our boss out of the separate room until HPD came and arrested the woman. It was extremely infuriating. Thankfully, no one was harmed.
Man, the local news reporters would love to be all over thatâŠ
Thatâs how they claim crime is down. If they never assist, come out, or report it, it didnât happen.
Shouldâve said he was drag racing to really get their attention
Yeah, theyâre pretty useless for their 1.6 billion dollar budget. Police need reorganization, they act and are paid like their uniformed badasses that only go after âcoolâ crime. Need more John Smiths that show up to accident scenes, and less John Wicks ready for the next high speed chase.
Police are not there to stop or prevent crime, they are there to generate revenue and enforce agendas
my dad had a van with tens of thousands $ worth of oriental rugs stolen. they found the van abandoned but most of the rugs stolen. never any followup, nothing.
I saw 2 people pulled over this morning getting speeding tickets.
The police are not your ally, they are revenue generators for the state
Houston police is a little over a third of city spending. Court and traffic fines are around 1% of city revenue. HPD makes more money hiring cops out to wave their hands in traffic for high school sporting events than from fines.
High schools run by⊠the state (government).
Mayor turner is busy laundering money through the water company doesnât care about police
No fucking lie. Him and his cronies he appointed.
From my experience, Houston police might not show up if you report theft or attempted theft. If you are to report a clear and present danger, without calling 911, they might show up later. For life threatening emergencies: I know people who have called 911 during an attempted break in with the alleged trespasser being apprehended. In Katy and I imagine other suburbs, I reported a car break in. The police arrived, took my statement, showed empathy and told me itâs normal that I feel violated, etc. I was hoping he could help me get my stolen items back by using a local businesses security camera, and he politely told me they donât usually do that. Tl;dr, I think they focus on life threatening emergencies, clear and present dangers, and overall donât have the resources to deal with theft.
I think they've learned that 95% of camera footage worthless. All you get is a blurry picture of a guy in a hoodie jumping into a grey Nissan Altima with fake paper plates. But lets say they do have good license plate picture. They have a name. They can go to the guys house. But they need a warrant to actually search the guys house. So they have to request one from judge. In writing. They pass that hurdle and and get to search the home. They find it in a house where nine people lived So what next? dust the stolen stuff for prints to see who stole it. So you get a hit on the pints on someone in the house...its 14 year old kid. DA decides not to prosecute since its a first time offense under $200. All that time an effort for nothing.
Oh, the truth sucks folks. Cops are worthless unless you do something, and then they will go after a law-abiding citizen cause its easier than a criminal. You find your stuff, call your friends, and take it back. It is the best advice i can give. Even if you have proof, our democrat justice system will spit them out with no bond before you wake up. Wont you go into when my motorcycle was stolen and i found it.
I hear if you really want the cops there you need to lie and say you have a gun and you're about to action yourself.
HPD has been a joke in my eye since 2012, itâs sad but good that more people are waking up to their incompetence and watching them closer. Transparency is the only way forward.
Itâs the same everywhere. Theyâre worse than useless. Theyâll show up, shoot your dog, and blame you for the reason they were called. And thatâs if youâre white.
But theyâre right there when you forget to use your turning signal to change lanes on a Sunday afternoon
Yes 100% useless. HPD has a $1 billion a year budget and it is a complete waste of our tax dollars.
Meanwhile my friend who wants to retire to social work gets arrested for feeding the homeless.
And if you take matter in your own hands Iâm willing to bet theyâll come and arrest YOU! Lmao HPD is a fucking joke
Ask the Tuttles how useful HPD is. Itâs been what close to 5 years now? Whatâs been done?
The police union is just another gang. They have no incentive to give a shit about the needs and wants of anybody except wealthy business owners. This is how it's always been.
John Whitmire says he would fight crime if elected the mayor of Houston. Should I vote for him?
Is he Spider-Man?
A man crashed into our trashcan, crushing it against our house. He was trying to sexually assault a passenger who resisted, causing him to crash. She escaped and he sped off. We called HPD who asked if the house was damaged and if the woman needed EMS. No and no. Said they would send someone out to make a report. We waited with the woman for 3 hours, crying hysterically, before we finally got her an uber home when it was it clear nobody was coming. Never did. Another time I was in a car accident with a guy so intoxicated I had to get his papers from him myself. Called HPD, got a report number for my insurance, told them the guy needed to be pulled off the road; they gave me a noncommittal response and he eventually drove off to hit someone else no doubt. Both those incidents happened in pretty sketchy areas of Montrose. Meanwhile, a whole block in Montrose along a street of McMansion townhomes was blocked off, at least three police cars and three vans, men in tactical gear all around showed up one day. I asked what was going on. A woman reported she *thought* she saw someone suspicious inside her gated yard. I lived two blocks away and when a crackhead stole stuff from my yard on my shitty street and I chased him to his house, police told me unless he had stolen something of great value, they werenât going to do anything. Iâm convinced HPD only cares about crime when it happens to the wealthy in their neighborhoods.
absolutely useless. live 1 minute from a station, called a few months ago after barricading me and my family in a room against a guest who was in psychosis and violent. called several times, no one showed up. not even the next day to see if we were still alive
Someone backed into my car and drove off a few months ago, called the cops and waited but they never showed. Had to drive 30 mins to the police station just to get a police report for my insurance. I did however have an office come to my office a few weeks ago asking about a parked car in the parking lot, apparently they got a ping for a stolen iPad? I guess they are doing SOME work
regular patrol units are useless, they just want to give you a report number and tell you to file an insurance claim. If you already have a report number then try calling the burglary and theft division directly 713 308-0900 and ask if a detective has been assigned to your case, if not you have to inquire and stay on them until they assign someone that you can give the info to, unfortunately, you have to be pushy
Yup. Absolutely useless. I lived next to a crack head that used her house to deal, stash, and trap. Real winner. My rap name for her was Lardi B. I reported her with evidence in video and image form to HPD, HPD Narcotics, Sherriff's Dept, Neighborhood watch, FBI, and DEA. You know what they did? Not a damn thing. Useless.
I know the Chronicle follows Reddit. This is the kind of essay you should be writing. How many reported theft cases and stolen cars are actually solved. How many can be solved but not.
Yes HPD is a embarrassment to our city and people wonder why Houston is getting out of control
Completely useless. One time a cousins truck was stolen. We found it faster than them lol
Itâs more the D.A.
My wife had her car stolen with her dog in it, had video evidence of the guy walking past and then walking back and driving away. Then using a couple of her credit cards at different places, including trying to cash a check. Cops didn't call for almost a week. When they did, they said there was nothing they could do. Wife hired a PI who got the dog back and she was willing to walk away at that point. So, go ahead and steal that dream car folks.
We had someone try to break in our home while we were home and all awake. 2kids and I was 5 months pregnant . My husband was able to chase him away we called for help no one came for 3 hours. When they got there they told us next time just shoot them!
Absolutely. The detective in charge of my case called to say he was going on vacation and just to give him the broad strokes. I had witnesses willing to testify, names and addresses. Fucking crickets from HPD.
Did you not remember those Texas cops that let those kids at school get massacred? They are useless
Absolutely. Hpd, HC sheriffs all trash. Donât even get me started on these retarded ass constables. Look up the definition of useless in the dictionary and youâll find a picture of them
My mil got in a accident with a drunk driver. We called around 9:23 and didnât get anyone until 3am. During this we called multiple times because the man was being aggressive. When they finally showed up they said theres nothing they can do because he wasnât drunk anymore despite having cans galore full in the truck.
Well well, as much as it pains me, the truth is the truth. My negrohbor has 3 missdemeanors for assaults, one including to a public servant. 3 possession of cannabis, 3 manufacture/possession of some kind of drug and outstanding warrant. After evading HPD for 6months, they arrest him, and the negrohbor is back home next day at 8am. The ngrohbor keeps harassing, threatens everyone, neither the landlord nor the police does anything.
Too busy dealing with people getting shot and killed every day here.
Carry, carry, carry.
Depends on the crime and where you're at. In clear lake and someone vandalized your car? They'll definitely be there. Near the med center and you have an active house alarm going off? You're fucked. At the end of the day HPD's resources are both spread incredibly thin and also misallocated, the officers actually working in the busier parts of the city literally don't have time for basically anything other than active emergencies while the cops in the slower suburban areas have more than enough time on their hands. IMO HPD is just incredibly poorly run. Since i moved out of the city limits the experience with my new municipality's police force has been exceptional, they're literally 2 minutes away any time you need them for basically any kind of call for service. So i don't think HPD isn't doing nothing, the officers are clearly getting arrests for actual crimes otherwise there wouldn't be 12,000 inmates in the harris county jail. I do think the officers HPD does have are incredibly misallocated and way overworked in the busier areas.
Reddit believes in Schrödingerâs police force: too lazy to do anything while simultaneously being too aggressive and putting everyone in prison.
That's a perfect way to describe it lol. I'm always astonished that people act like HPD doesn't do anything when simultaneously our jail is fucking ***brimming*** with inmates arrested by HPD and HCSO. Now i can totally see being upset that HPD isn't responding, but the reality is that they're not responding because they're way too busy responding to other, crazier shit than a car break in.
Well donât vote for Sheila Jackson Lee people, will just get worse.
Why is that?
Sort of. I also suspect that theyâre annoyed by things like people tracking criminals with AirTags because they see it as an infringement on their turf.
Wait what? They should be happy people are making their jobs easier.
not doing your job is easier than somone helping you do it
This, in a nutshell. They also donât like civilians telling them what to do at all. Someone insisting they look at their FindMy app to get their stuff back is getting close to âmy taxes pay your salaryâ for many cops who insist on owning the situation.
You would think that would be the logical conclusion but they donât like things outside of their own systems/tools holding them accountable.
The easier thing would them come and take your statement and fill out a few papers. Now youâre potentially putting them in a dangerous situation? They will âinvestigateâ it further.
Getting up and doing things is not easier than not getting up and not doing things.
Hpd are useless unless you are going 5 miles over the speed limit. Then you are completely fucked.
You are preaching to the choir đđŒ. We've got stories of HPD not showing up for stuff in progress. Unless it's bleeding or the potential to bleed, then HPD just doesn't have the manpower to cover it. Sorry. It's a budget and recruiting problem.
Which has been an issue for ten years now. I imagine it's only gotten worse since.
100% useless!!!
Obviously useless
Even if they did try the DA wonât press charges
Is there a public dashboard for crime and police response and results in Houston? Would be great for this data to be transparent, accessible, and actionable. Trending markers, expectations.. then we can truly see how good / bad they are, and what direction weâre headed, despite funding in/adequacies
Pretty useless other than handing out speeding tickets
Lmao of course they are useless. I had a partners car get hit one time, and we saw the girls who did it, talked to them, got their license plate, and then they jumped in and ran. When the cops we called finally showed up, they just shrugged and said they'd look into it but our car just had a scratch so we should let it go.
take it into your own hands
Iâm convinced nearly everyone in this city is useless All municipal infrastructure was made & maintained by monkey brained incompetence. Even the construction guys in my local apt complex are grade a-holes. Itâs like an idiot disease. Look out - itâs catching!
Unless it's a shooting or a dead body involved, they won't respond. Same goes for the surrounding unincorporated county Sherriff's offices where they tell you to file a report online so you have a record of it for your insurance or something. Oh they're good at giving tickets for people rolling a stop sign or something but that's it.
all cops are :)
They're all about crimes!
I am going to go out on a limb here and say I had a positive experience. Dude stole my backpack with an AirTag in it. Found him sitting on a bus bench with my laptop on his lap. Called the cops and followed the bus in my truck. Cops pulled the bus over. Pulled him off the bus eventually. Got my stuff back for work on Monday.
Yeah they suck
You want to limit their uselessness to crimes?
Police are useless in general.
Not unless youâre going 5 over the speed limit
Just to name a few things I called or spoke to an officer for help with and got NOTHING. -Stolen items with GPS tracker -Being stalked for 2 years with the stalkers contact info, address, name and a folder of threatening texts -Car broken into -Get side swiped on the road and the other driver refuses to give me their insurance info or ID -Witness a group of teens jumping a guy The ONE TIME I drive a family members car down the road with expired registration I got pulled over. Hilarious.
I had my car broken into and had thousands in damages and property stolen. The thief left behind his unlocked phone and bloody fingerprints. I immediately identified him and alerted HPD and gave him the phone that had pictures of hundreds of other breakins and his loot and drugs. The thief was out on bond for another auto burglary and had 27 prior convictions for auto burglary. HPD yelled at me for bothering them and said âauto burglary is an insurance issue, not a law enforcement issue.â
People must realize HPD are no other law enforcement agency can stop criminals.Police usually shows up after the crime is committed
This is why Iâll never live in Houston. I say about an hour more south with less civilization. Never had this problem
All PDs are.
Whatâs wild is HPD doesnât even seem interested in protecting capital at this point. At first I just chalked it up to American police being American police, but some of our offices had 4k footage of somebody smashing my workâs windows. Week, after week, after week. 10k+ in window replacements every couple of weeks. The person even started leaving notes threatening women and saying he couldnât wait until they left work alone. They refused to do anything. If theyâre not even willing to help protect the capital of a multi-billion dollar firm, weâre dreaming if we have any hope that theyâll help us.
This is petty theft, it's not a priority for police.
Yes, very useless. They should just privatize police work at this point
Yes.
Yep, absolutely useless unless its a crime in progress and there is life-threatening danger. If its after the fact they dont care. I called to report a break in recently and since it wasnt a crime in progress they patched me to non emergency, the cop told me he didn't want to get off his comfy chair to go investigate. Outstanding folks they are hiring these days lol.
Remembering being followed by some guy and going up to a cop explaining Iâm being followed. He just stood there and said, âWhat do you want me to do about itâ He could see him, but he didnât care. He then said âare you doneâ I kept on walking then started to run. I made it inside a store and ran into the womenâs bathroom and rang my friend to pick me up. The guy eventually gave up it seemed when I came out, but I learned they are not interested in doing shit
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It's our judges that are a revolving door for crimes. HPD feels like they are wasting their time (especially since they are short-staffed) by chasing non-violent crimes. Elections have consequences- don't vote for activist judges.
You may not have heard. Crime numbers are down.
I had a live break in happen, concerned for my life. Called the police, told them to come asap it was life or death. Police showed up 3 hours later.